Kerry Lynch stepped into the role of editor of the&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;monthly magazine in May 2022 after serving with&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;for eight years. She joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in December 2014 as a senior editor covering Washington and business aviation news. She has also served on Convention News teams, including as editor of&nbsp;HAI Convention News. Lynch previously spent 25 years with Aviation Week. During her time there, she reported for and later steered&nbsp;The Weekly of Business Aviation, oversaw business aviation content on the&nbsp;Aviation Week Intelligence Network, served on the&nbsp;Show News&nbsp;staff, and held roles as the Washington columnist for&nbsp;Business &amp; Commercial Aviation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Overhaul &amp; Maintenance&nbsp;monthly magazines. In 2021 she was honored with the National Business Aviation Association Platinum Wing Award for lifetime achievement in journalism and was the 2004 recipient of the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalism Excellence Award. She also has been a recipient of an Aerospace Media Award for business aviation (2022) and NBAA Gold Wing Award (2003, 2024). Lynch graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism.

Editor, AIN monthly magazine

Kerry Lynch

In a joint effort with U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-New York), Sen. Edward&nbsp;Markey (D-Massachusetts) is taking aim at “fat cat” corporate aircraft with a bill to increase fuel taxes for private jets ninefold from the current 21.9 cents per gallon to $1.95. Entitling the bill the Fueling Alternative Transportation with a Carbon Aviation Tax—or&nbsp;<a href="http://www.markey.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/fat_cat_act_-_071923pdf1.pdf">FATCAT</a>—Act, Markey estimated that the&nbsp;tax increase would be the equivalent of charging&nbsp;about $200 per tonne of a private jet's CO2 emissions.&nbsp;The FATCAT Act would also remove fuel-tax exemptions for logging and oil and gas exploration.
Resulting tax revenue would help fund a newly created Clean Communities Trust Fund “to support air monitoring for environmental justice communities and long-term investments in clean, affordable public transportation across the country—including passenger rail and bus routes near commercial airports,” according to Markey.
His announcement further stated that “per passenger, private jets pollute up to 14 times more than commercial flights and 50 times more than trains, producing as much emissions as millions of cars every year in the U.S. Despite their sky-high emissions per passenger, private air travel is taxed considerably less than commercial air travel.”
“It’s time to ground these fat cats and make them pay their fair share,” Markey said.&nbsp;“The 1 percent can’t free ride on our environment and our infrastructure at a discount.”&nbsp;Velázquez added,&nbsp;“Working families shouldn't subsidize the ultra-wealthy to fly private and destroy our environment.”
Cosponsoring the Senate version of the legislation are Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island). Supporting the initiative are Transportation for America, Americans for Tax Fairness, Patriotic Millionaires, Public Citizen, and the Sunrise Movement.
While the path forward for such a bill is unclear, particularly in the House, Markey is introducing it as the Senate prepares for consideration of the comprehensive FAA reauthorization bill.&nbsp;In addition, it comes as environmental justice organizations have stepped up their protests against the use of private jets in Europe, throwing paint and chaining or gluing themselves to aircraft.

News about bills, laws, regulations and other governmental decisions affecting aviation and aerospace. Topics include FAA re-authorizations, taxes on fuel and aviation activities, environmental legislation, ICAO decisions, governmental mediation of labor conflicts and World Trade Organization disputes and decisions.

Sen. Markey Calls for Higher Taxes on 'Fat Cat' Jets

In a return to the "fat cat" characterization of business jets, Sen. Edward Markey is offering legislation to vastly increase fuel taxes on such aircraft.

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